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Weekly Good News Round-Up: I'm Still Married After 21 Years

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Happy Friday, everyone! I’m celebrating 21 years of marriage (last month), so everyone grab a drink and get ready to hear about the anniversary trip to beat them all.

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I think I’m supposed to say that it’s been really hard or something, but the truth is, it’s been mostly fun. The older we get the more we mellow out, and what seemed important even ten years ago now seems insignificant. Mr. Fox and I have weathered pretty much everything life throws at most people rather well. The proof is that we took off on a vacation together in a camper for two for twelve straight days and didn’t end up fighting or having to bury one of us in the woods.

We did, however, hear other couples fighting and parents dealing with screeching children, which made both of us laugh hysterically while refilling our beers. If I had one piece of marriage advice to hand out it would be this: take vacations WITHOUT KIDS. We haven’t done this enough. In fact, in 21 years of marriage, we’ve gotten away together alone exactly three times. That’s unacceptable. I’m instituting a new rule that says we must get away alone every year at least once but preferably twice.

For our anniversary trip, we decided to go east! Being new residents of New York, we have the ability to explore the east coast in a way we never could before from Chicago and so we took off and headed to the ocean, making our first stop in Old Forge, New York, right in the middle of the Adirondacks. I now understand why people who go there can’t stop talking about it. It really is spectacular.

Old Forge is a great town with a lot of fun things to do including an old-fashioned movie theater where we saw a late showing of “Free Guy” with Ryan Reynolds. I recommend both Old Forge and “Free Guy.” Both were highly entertaining.

Most lakes in New York are incredibly hard to pronounce, named after Indian tribes or other unpronounceable things. But not in Old Forge! Their lakes are decidedly easier to keep straight with numbers instead of names. I can just imagine what that lake naming process was like. “This looks like a Lake Okinawajobee….nevermind. Let’s call it ‘1.’”

We had a fabulous time renting a pontoon and exploring the chain of lakes. My favorite dock had a sign that said “Make the Dock Great Again.” I wonder if there were Trump boat parades on these lakes?

The editors here get a big kick out of the fact that the majority of the searches that include my name here on PJ Media are for “Megan Fox bikini pics.” So as not to disappoint, here’s one.

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After two days in Old Forge we headed to Bethlehem, New Hampshire. New Hampshire is the state with the motto, “Live Free or Die,” and is rated number two on the freest states to live having only been recently beat out by Florida. I thought I would like a state whose motto sums up my own personal philosophy so well and I was right. There were no masking signs, no mask Karens, no nanny-state babysitters at the national park keeping us from doing stupid things like rock jumping into mountain swimming holes…it was amazing.

We took the train to the top of Mt. Washington, which was the only decision we think we got wrong on the whole trip. If you’re ever going to the top of Mt. Washington, we both suggest you drive or hike. The train is quaint but incredibly slow and the diesel smell will give you a headache. However, we found out that the Cog Railway does do a winter trip halfway up the mountain, which you could not do in a car and they have a giant bonfire and serve hot chocolate and make s’mores which would be a lot of fun with kids.

See those big rocks overlooking the swimming hole? We jumped off those repeatedly. We might be old, but we’re still kind of stupid in a fun way.

We also found an incredible brewery called Reklis that is terriffic. It was so good, we ate there twice. It’s also one of the only places to eat in Bethlehem and so there’s always a wait but it’s worth it. The place is so unique. They have a large field where you can wait for a table with its own bar and cornhole games to keep you busy. I highly recommend the Clouded Judgement IPA. Yum!

After prying ourselves away from that magical swimming hole in the White Mountain National Park, we headed to Bar Harbor, Maine, to hit Acadia National Park.

I am not sure I’ve ever had so much fun hiking than on the rocks around the coast of Maine. What an incredible view! Mr. Fox and I spent hours out there and despite the crowds in the park, hardly any of them attempted the rock hike we did so we were pretty much alone. I even dunked myself in the sea in a quiet cove. It was thrilling. We hiked Great Head trail near Sand Beach and ended up in the ice-cold Arctic current that flows into that beach to cool off. Invigorating is one way to describe it but I do credit the intensely cold water with keeping me from getting too sore from the hiking.

Bar Harbor town is very crowded, but we didn’t have any trouble getting into Testa’s restaurant for lobster and cocktails. I guess it doesn’t have to be said that Maine has incredible seafood. What else would you expect? But it was excellent. I ate mussels and shrimp and scallops and lobster at almost every meal. I was like Michelle Obama with an unlimited expense account.

After two days in Bar Harbor, we headed to Portland, Maine (not the other one. That one is dangerous and gross). Old Orchard Beach was crowded and hot, but the calm ocean was inviting and welcome and the oceanside restaurants offering cold beer and more lobster were just what we needed. Old Orchard Beach is a great spot to take kids and babies swimming. The water is so calm! There were hardly any waves and very little current.

Our last stop on the way home was Herkimer New York. This is the site of the famous Herkimer Diamond Mine where you can mine for “Herkimer Diamonds” and keep what you find. They aren’t real diamonds but they’re really neat.

We were too tired to visit the mine but we did hang out by the fire in front of this soothing rushing river.

I guess it’s a good sign that I didn’t want the trip to end. I could stay stuck in a camper for two for the rest of my life with Mr. Fox, but the children need wrangling and the bank account needs replenishing and so back to reality it is. I hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready for all the craziness that the school year brings. I got home and realized I didn’t even buy school supplies yet. I still have a week. It will be fine.

See you next week!

 

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